My Foray into My Midwestern Roots

Texas Snow!

When the subject for the 64th Edition of Carnival of Genealogy was announced, I wondered what I could submit. Somewhere in my files and books are many pictures of winter activities and snow – with some included below. Since I’ve lived in Texas for the better part of (almost) 30 years, I haven’t seen as much snow as I did when I grew up in southwestern Ohio. So when we have snow in north Texas, it makes news – big news!

Local stations interrupt most of the morning and daily television programs to report on the weather – with the same scene of people sliding on ice on the highways and the same scene (over and over!) of people sliding on bridges. I often wonder – how many times can you report the same story every ten minutes. Nothing has changed!

Not only do schools shut down when the roads have a hint of ice, but businesses, churches, and government offices. People rush the grocery as if they will be holed up for weeks (maybe a couple days!). And unless you live way out in the country, there’s usually a 7-11 within a block or two.

We never know how to dress in the winter time. Case in point – the picture at left was taken on New Year’s Day 2005! My daughter was wearing shorts because the temperature was in the 70s!

This picture was taken on February 2, 2007. At least the snow was “pretty” instead of just wet and yucky! Unfortunately, this was one of those days when it was non-stop news reports.

The following pictures were taken in the 60s in Ohio. This is the front of the house I grew up in and ice coated trees. Usually, from January – March this was the norm! Winter time and cold weather normally meant heavy winter coats, mittens or gloves, a hat and a scarf. Until I was in 6th grade, girls weren’t allowed to wear pants to school so in winter time, I wore winter “leggings” in order to keep my legs warm. I also had heavy snow boots that went on over my shoes. In 2nd grade, I had a pair of red knee high boots. These were “fashion” boots – not snow boots yet I somehow convinced myself that I didn’t need snowboots over these. The cold seeped in and so did the wet!

Children in my neighborhood never seemed to mind the cold weather. We were outside all of the time building snowmen, snow forts, making snow angels, and throwing snowballs at one another. A neighbor of mine used to go to his grandmother’s house nearby that had a really nice hill on the property. We’d have 4-5 kids on a big sled and ride down that hill – only to have to carry the sled back up to do it again! When I was about 7, my parents got me a snow disk. We didn’t have any “hills” in our yard except for the pool embankment into the yard. Even so, I spent a good number of hours just riding that thing down three feet of “hill”.

In January 1978 a Blizzard hit the midwest. I woke up one morning not too long after we’d just started back to classes after the Christmas break and realized that I’d overslept! Mom told me there were no classes and no one was driving anywhere. I looked outside and all I saw was a wall of white. We were out of school for almost a week due to the blizzard. Since we had used more than our allotment of snow days, school didn’t end until June 20 something that year! Then the school board decided we should start in August instead of the normal “after Labor Day” – putting our summer vacation less than we’d ever had before. That is one thing I don’t miss about the midwest – all the snow!

So in honor of the (lack of) real winter weather here in North Texas, I took several of my February 2007 Texas snow pictures and created a digital scrapbook page.

(Digital page and elements designed by Wendy Littrell. Original slides or digital images in possession of Wendy Littrell (Address for private use).

5 Responses

I remember the leggings worn under my dresses and how I hated them. I had separate winter boots and had to put my shoes on at school. What ever happened to shoe-bags?

My brother lives in Grapevine and when they moved there in 1985 they took everything with them, including the kids plastic toboggans. I don’t know how long they were there before they had snow but when it came they got them out and took them all over the neighborhood and filled them with snow so they could make a good sized snowman.

Shoe bags! Wow that takes me back! Mine was plaid with a plastic lined interior. If your brother had been in Grapevine the winter of 83 – they could have used the toboggans – except I think we had mainly a big ice storm – little snow!

I grew up in north Texas and seldom saw snow and ice. I believe I’ve seen more here since we returned to Texas (in 1990) than I ever saw growing up. I remember that Valentine’s Day a couple of years ago, too. I got some neat photos in the front of the house and my granddaughter throwing a snowball at me.

Snow Angels!
To me the first day of winter was always the day when I could make my first snow angel. It was a little ritual my sisters and I carried out each year in our backyard – usually towards the end of November or beginning of December.
Thanks for the memories,
Evelyn in Montreal
A Canadian Family